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Women’s seventh seed Victoria Azarenka has come from a set and 4-2 down to win the final 10 games of the match, stunning Russian Vera Zvonareva 4-6 6-4 6-0 in a bizarre fourth-round encounter at Rod Laver Arena late on Monday night.

Azarenka, who had never previously beaten 2009 Melbourne Park semi-finalist Zvonareva in four career meetings, steeled herself after falling a break down in the second set, capitalising on the Russian’s inability to hold serve to book a quarter-final with Serena Williams on Wednesday.

It was in the fourth round last year when a heat-stressed Azarenka was forced to retire from her match with the younger Williams sister, and she was determined to go one step further 12 months on. Azarenka had lost just eight games in three rounds coming into Monday’s clash, and has now advanced to the final eight in three of the four majors after she made quarter-final appearances at both the French Open and Wimbledon last year.
 
Games went on serve in a high-quality first set until the 10th and final game, when Zvonareva was handed the first set courtesy of an Azarenka double fault.

Neither player could earn a break point on the other’s serve until the seventh game, when Azarenka sent a clever volley behind the Russian to give herself a chance for a decisive lead. Zvonareva saved the break point with a spectacular forehand down the line, her best shot of the set, and had a chance to break Azarenka in the very next game but made two errors at deuce to allow Azarenka to hold.

Zvonareva survived a scare on serve in the ninth game, and after Azarenka chastised herself for letting the Russian off the hook, Zvonareva pounced in the next game, earning two set points with a deep forehand that had the seventh seed off balance. Ultimately, Azarenka’s 22 unforced errors to her opponents’ 12 were costly in the 56-minute set, while the Belarusian wasn’t able to capitalise on any of her five break point chances.

Both players struggled to hold serve in a second set marred by error-ridden tennis, with Azarenka keeping her nerve at the key times to level the match at one set-all.

Zvonareva looked to have the set and the match in the bag when she broke Azarenka for a 3-1 lead, but crumbled on serve thereafter, Azarenka breaking her in three consecutive games. The Belarusian immediately handed back two of those breaks, but it was in the eighth game when she found her focus after incorrectly questioning a line call and using up her final challenge for the set.

A fired-up Azarenka, after a conversation with the chair umpire following an audible obscenity, finally held to climb back into the set at 4-4, and quickly won the next two games, securing a break after Zvonareva sent a forehand wide, and then winning her own service game thanks to a monstrous forehand that left the ninth seed scrambling.

The third set started as Monday ticked into Tuesday in Melbourne, and if the wheels were a little wobbly for Zvonareva coming into the decider, they well and truly fell off after she was broken in a marathon first game that lasted 13 minutes. Azarenka squandered five break points before finally taking a 1-0 lead with a driving forehand volley, and from there, what was left of Zvonareva’s resistance was broken.

Azarenka earned two break points in the third game, converting on the second of them for a 3-0 lead, and she broke Zvonareva for the third time in the set after crushing a forehand down the line for a 5-0 lead. Zvonareva successfully challenged a ball that was called out on match point in the next game, but it didn’t bother the Belarusian, who won the following point from a Zvonareva error to advance to the final eight.

Fast facts
- Azarenka converted on just six of 20 break point chances, while Zvonareva went 3-for-5.

- Zvonareva had 34 winners, five fewer than her opponent.

- The Russian served a costly eight double faults, while Azarenka had four.